Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 6, 2025

Induction of Drug-Induced, Autoimmune Hepatitis in BALB/c Mice for the Study of Its Pathogenic Mechanisms
Published on: May 29, 2020
Causal effect of autoimmune liver diseases on cancer: Meta-analyses of cohort studies and Mendelian randomization
Dongqing Gu1, Min Zhang2, Yutong Wang3
1Department of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Background And Aims:
Prior studies suggested that patients with autoimmune liver diseases (AiLDs) had an increased risk of cancer, whereas the causal effect remained unclear.
Methods:
Meta-analyses concerning the relationship between AiLD and cancer risk were performed to calculate the pooled relative risk (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Then, the associations with a p value of <.05 were further validated by two-sample Mendelian randomization studies.
Results:
A total of 37 cohort studies covering more than 34 558 patients were included, and we observed an increased risk of overall cancers (pooled RR = 3.64, 95% CI: 2.64-5.03, p < .001) and cancer-related death (pooled RR = 2.48, 95% CI: 1.73-3.53, p < .001) for patients with AiLD. Besides, overall and several site-specific cancers risk were found in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) (p < .05). However, associations between genetically predisposed AIH, PBC, and PSC and the risk of specific cancers did not reach a significant level, except for PBC and gastric cancer (OR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.93-0.99; p = .02).
Conclusions:
In addition to hepatobiliary cancer, results from the meta-analyses suggest that patients with AiLD might have an increased risk of several extrahepatobiliary cancers. However, the causal role of AiLD in cancer development needs to be further investigated.
Related Concept Videos
Autoimmune Disorders
Concept and Mechanism of Autoimmune Diseases
The immune...
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Mutagenicity and Carcinogenicity
Criteria for Causality: Bradford Hill Criteria - II
Causality in Epidemiology
Psychoneuroimmunology: Diabetes and Cancer

